scholarly journals The metaphoric nature of the ordinal position effect

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandan Zhou ◽  
Hanxi Zhong ◽  
Dong Wenshan ◽  
Li Min ◽  
Tom Verguts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Position Effect ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Ordinal Position ◽  
Writing Theory ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
The Right ◽  
Bottom To Top ◽  
Chinese Subjects

Serial orders are thought to be spatially represented in working memory: The beginning items in the memorized sequence are associated with the left side of space and the ending items associated with the right side of space. However, the origin of this ordinal position effect has remained unclear. It was suggested (Guida, et al., 2018) that the reading / writing experience shapes the direction of serial order-space interaction. An alternative hypothesis is that it originates from the “more is right” / “more is up” spatial metaphors we use in daily life (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003). We can adjudicate between the two theories in Chinese subjects; they read left-to-right, but also have a culturally ancient top-to-bottom reading / writing direction. Thus, the reading / writing theory predicts no or a top-to-bottom effect in serial order-space interaction; whereas the spatial metaphor theory predicts a clear bottom-to-top effect. We designed three experiments to investigate this issue. First, we found a left-to-right ordinal position effect, replicating results obtained in Western populations. However we observed a vertical ordinal position effect in a bottom-to-top direction, which was itself modulated by (left / right) hand positions. We suggest that order-space interactions are a case of metaphoric comprehension, which itself may ground cognitive processing.

scholarly journals The metaphoric nature of the ordinal position effect

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (8) ◽  
pp. 2121-2129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandan Zhou ◽  
Hanxi Zhong ◽  
Wenshan Dong ◽  
Min Li ◽  
Tom Verguts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Position Effect ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Ordinal Position ◽  
Hand Position ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
The Right ◽  
Bottom To Top ◽  
Different Sources

Serial orders are thought to be spatially represented in working memory: The beginning items in the memorised sequence are associated with the left side of space and the ending items are associated with the right side of space. However, the origin of this ordinal position effect has remained unclear. It was suggested that the direction of serial order–space interaction is related to the reading/writing experience. An alternative hypothesis is that it originates from the “more is right”/“more is up” spatial metaphors we use in daily life. We can adjudicate between the two viewpoints in Chinese readers; they read left-to-right but also have a culturally ancient top-to-bottom reading/writing direction. Thus, the reading/writing viewpoint predicts no or a top-to-bottom effect in serial order–space interaction; whereas the spatial metaphor theory predicts a clear bottom-to-top effect. We designed four experiments to investigate this issue. First, we found a left-to-right ordinal position effect, replicating results obtained in Western populations. However, the vertical ordinal position effect was in the bottom-to-top direction; moreover, it was modulated by hand position (e.g., left hand bottom or up). We suggest that order–space interactions may originate from different sources and are driven by metaphoric comprehension, which itself may ground cognitive processing.

scholarly journals The Mechanism of the Ordinal Position Effect: Stability Across Sense Modalities and the Hands Crossed Context

i-Perception ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 204166951984107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiangqiang Wang ◽  
Tingting Nie ◽  
Weixia Zhang ◽  
Wendian Shi
Keyword(s):  
Position Effect ◽  
Random Order ◽  
Ordinal Position ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Order Information ◽  
Sense Modality ◽  
Relevant Task ◽  
The Right ◽  
Sense Modalities

The ordinal position effect posits that items positioned earlier in an ordinal sequence are responded to faster with the left key than the right key, and items positioned later in an ordinal sequence are responded to faster with the right key than the left key. Although the mechanism of the ordinal position effect has been investigated in many studies, it is unclear whether the ordinal position effect can extend to the auditory modality and the hands crossed context. Therefore, the present study employed days as the order information to investigate this question. Days were visually or acoustically displayed on a screen in random order, and participants were instructed to judge whether the probe day they perceived was before or after the current day (days-relevant task) or to identify the color or voice of the probe day they perceived (days-irrelevant task). The results indicate the following: (a) The days before the current day were responded to faster with the left key than the right key, and the days after the current day were responded to faster with the right key than the left key, both when the days-relevant task and the days-irrelevant task were performed, regardless of the sense modality. (b) The ordinal position effect for judgments of days was also obtained in the auditory modality even when the hands were crossed. These results indicate that the ordinal position effect can extend to the auditory modality and the hands crossed context, similar to the spatial-numerical association of response codes effect of numbers.

Order Information in Verbal Working Memory Shifts the Subjective Midpoint in Both the Line Bisection and the Landmark Tasks

2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 1973-1983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Antoine ◽  
Mariagrazia Ranzini ◽  
Titia Gebuis ◽  
Jean-Philippe van Dijck ◽  
Wim Gevers
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Ordinal Position ◽  
Line Bisection ◽  
Spatial Processing ◽  
Continuous Processing ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Line Bisection Task

A largely substantiated view in the domain of working memory is that the maintenance of serial order is achieved by generating associations of each item with an independent representation of its position, so-called position markers. Recent studies reported that the ordinal position of an item in verbal working memory interacts with spatial processing. This suggests that position markers might be spatial in nature. However, these interactions were so far observed in tasks implying a clear binary categorization of space (i.e., with left and right responses or targets). Such binary categorizations leave room for alternative interpretations, such as congruency between non-spatial categorical codes for ordinal position (e.g., begin and end) and spatial categorical codes for response (e.g., left and right). Here we discard this interpretation by providing evidence that this interaction can also be observed in a task that draws upon a continuous processing of space, the line bisection task. Specifically, bisections are modulated by ordinal position in verbal working memory, with lines bisected more towards the right after retrieving items from the end compared to the beginning of the memorized sequence. This supports the idea that position markers are intrinsically spatial in nature.

scholarly journals The empirical reach of the ´mental whiteboard´: A commentary on Ginsburg et al. (2017)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elger Abrahamse ◽  
Alessandro Guida
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Position Effect ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Ordinal Position

In a recent study, Ginsburg and colleagues (2017) explored the boundary conditions of the ordinal position effect, which refers to the horizontal format with which (non-spatial) item sequences have been observed to be represented in working memory. On the basis of 6 experiments on the ordinal position effect, they conclude that serial order in working memory is spatial by nature only if the memoranda are processed semantically. In this commentary we explain why we feel that Ginsburg et al.’s (2017) conclusions are premature, and how they inspire specific guidelines for a more optimal study of ´spatialization´ for serial order in working memory.

Hypothesis testing with error correction models

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Patrick W. Kraft ◽  
Ellen M. Key ◽  
Matthew J. Lebo
Keyword(s):  
Hypothesis Testing ◽  
Error Correction ◽  
Null Hypothesis ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Correction Coefficient ◽  
Correction Model ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
The Right ◽  
General Error

Abstract Grant and Lebo (2016) and Keele et al. (2016) clarify the conditions under which the popular general error correction model (GECM) can be used and interpreted easily: In a bivariate GECM the data must be integrated in order to rely on the error correction coefficient, $\alpha _1^\ast$ , to test cointegration and measure the rate of error correction between a single exogenous x and a dependent variable, y. Here we demonstrate that even if the data are all integrated, the test on $\alpha _1^\ast$ is misunderstood when there is more than a single independent variable. The null hypothesis is that there is no cointegration between y and any x but the correct alternative hypothesis is that y is cointegrated with at least one—but not necessarily more than one—of the x's. A significant $\alpha _1^\ast$ can occur when some I(1) regressors are not cointegrated and the equation is not balanced. Thus, the correct limiting distributions of the right-hand-side long-run coefficients may be unknown. We use simulations to demonstrate the problem and then discuss implications for applied examples.

Resting-state Functional Connectivity of the Right Temporoparietal Junction Relates to Belief Updating and Reorienting during Spatial Attention

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1130-1141
Author(s):  
Anne-Sophie Käsbauer ◽  
Paola Mengotti ◽  
Gereon R. Fink ◽  
Simone Vossel
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Prior Information ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Belief Updating ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Right Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right

Although multiple studies characterized the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), little is known about the link between rTPJ rsFC and cognitive functions. Given a putative involvement of rTPJ in both reorienting of attention and the updating of probabilistic beliefs, this study characterized the relationship between rsFC of rTPJ with dorsal and ventral attention systems and these two cognitive processes. Twenty-three healthy young participants performed a modified location-cueing paradigm with true and false prior information about the percentage of cue validity to assess belief updating and attentional reorienting. Resting-state fMRI was recorded before and after the task. Seed-based correlation analysis was employed, and correlations of each behavioral parameter with rsFC before the task, as well as with changes in rsFC after the task, were assessed in an ROI-based approach. Weaker rsFC between rTPJ and right intraparietal sulcus before the task was associated with relatively faster updating of the belief that the cue will be valid after false prior information. Moreover, relatively faster belief updating, as well as faster reorienting, were related to an increase in the interhemispheric rsFC between rTPJ and left TPJ after the task. These findings are in line with task-based connectivity studies on related attentional functions and extend results from stroke patients demonstrating the importance of interhemispheric parietal interactions for behavioral performance. The present results not only highlight the essential role of parietal rsFC for attentional functions but also suggest that cognitive processing during a task changes connectivity patterns in a performance-dependent manner.

scholarly journals Age affects pigeon memory capacity, but not representation of serial order, during a locomotor sequential-learning task

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Meier ◽  
Parisa Sepehri ◽  
Debbie M. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Sequential Learning ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Recall Memory

Abstract Aging affects individuals of every species, with sometimes detrimental effects on memory and cognition. The simultaneous-chaining task, a sequential-learning task, requires subjects to select items in a predetermined sequence, putting demands on memory and cognitive processing capacity. It is thus a useful tool to investigate age-related differences in these domains. Pigeons of three age groups (young, adult and aged) completed a locomotor adaptation of the task, learning a list of four items. Training began presenting only the first item; additional items were added, one at a time, once previous items were reliably selected in their correct order. Although memory capacity declined noticeably with age, not all aged pigeons showed impairments compared to younger pigeons, suggesting that inter-individual variability emerged with age. During a subsequent free-recall memory test, when all trained items were presented alongside novel distractor items, most pigeons did not reproduce the trained sequence in the absence of reinforcement. During a further forced-choice test, when pigeons were given a choice between only two of the trained items, all three age groups showed evidence of an understanding of the ordinal relationship between items by choosing the earlier item, indicating that complex cognitive processing, unlike memory capacity, remained unaffected by age.

scholarly journals Brain Connectivity Analysis Under Semantic Vigilance and Enhanced Mental States

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fares Al-Shargie ◽  
Usman Tariq ◽  
Omnia Hassanin ◽  
Hasan Mir ◽  
Fabio Babiloni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Vigilance State ◽  
The Right

In this paper, we present a method to quantify the coupling between brain regions under vigilance and enhanced mental states by utilizing partial directed coherence (PDC) and graph theory analysis (GTA). The vigilance state is induced using a modified version of stroop color-word task (SCWT) while the enhancement state is based on audio stimulation with a pure tone of 250 Hz. The audio stimulation was presented to the right and left ears simultaneously for one-hour while participants perform the SCWT. The quantification of mental states was performed by means of statistical analysis of indexes based on GTA, behavioral responses of time-on-task (TOT), and Brunel Mood Scale (BRMUS). The results show that PDC is very sensitive to vigilance decrement and shows that the brain connectivity network is significantly reduced with increasing TOT, p < 0.05. Meanwhile, during the enhanced state, the connectivity network maintains high connectivity as time passes and shows significant improvements compared to vigilance state. The audio stimulation enhances the connectivity network over the frontal and parietal regions and the right hemisphere. The increase in the connectivity network correlates with individual differences in the magnitude of the vigilance enhancement assessed by response time to stimuli. Our results provide evidence for enhancement of cognitive processing efficiency with audio stimulation. The BRMUS was used to evaluate the emotional states of vigilance task before and after using the audio stimulation. BRMUS factors, such as fatigue, depression, and anger, significantly decrease in the enhancement group compared to vigilance group. On the other hand, happy and calmness factors increased with audio stimulation, p < 0.05.

scholarly journals Relation of ordinal position signals to the expectation of reward and passage of time in four areas of the macaque frontal cortex

2011 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 2547-2559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara K. Berdyyeva ◽  
Carl R. Olson
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Ordinal Position ◽  
Successive Stage ◽  
Motor Area ◽  
Elapsed Time ◽  
Supplementary Eye Field ◽  
Order Task ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Eye Field

Neurons in several areas of the monkey frontal cortex exhibit rank selectivity, firing differentially as a function of the stage attained during the performance of a serial order task. The activity of these neurons is commonly thought to represent ordinal position within the trial. However, they might also be sensitive to factors correlated with ordinal position including time elapsed during the trial (which is greater for each successive stage) and the degree of anticipation of reward (which probably increases at each successive stage). To compare the influences of these factors, we monitored neuronal activity in the supplementary motor area (SMA), presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA), supplementary eye field (SEF), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during the performance of a serial order task (requiring a series of saccades in three specified directions), a variable reward task (in which a cue displayed early in the trial indicated whether the reward received at the end of the trial would be large or small), and a long delay task (in which the monkey had simply to maintain fixation during a period of time approximating the duration of an average trial in the serial order task). We found that rank signals were partially correlated with sensitivity to elapsed time and anticipated reward. The connection to elapsed time was strongest in the pre-SMA. The connection to anticipated reward was most pronounced in the SMA and SEF. However, critically, these factors could not fully explain rank selectivity in any of the areas tested.

scholarly journals Gene expression profiling of the dorsolateral and medial orbitofrontal cortex in schizophrenia

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihovil Mladinov ◽  
Goran Sedmak ◽  
Heidi R. Fuller ◽  
Mirjana Babić Leko ◽  
Davor Mayer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Transcriptome Profiling ◽  
Differentially Expressed ◽  
Unknown Etiology ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right

AbstractSchizophrenia is a complex polygenic disorder of unknown etiology. Over 3,000 candidate genes associated with schizophrenia have been reported, most of which being mentioned only once. Alterations in cognitive processing - working memory, metacognition and mentalization - represent a core feature of schizophrenia, which indicates the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in the pathophysiology of this disorder. Hence we compared the gene expression in postmortem tissue from the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, Brodmann's area 46), and the medial part of the orbitofrontal cortex (MOFC, Brodmann's area 11/12), in six patients with schizophrenia and six control brains. Although in the past decade several studies performed transcriptome profiling in schizophrenia, this is the first study to investigate both hemispheres, providing new knowledge about possible brain asymmetry at the level of gene expression and its relation to schizophrenia. We found that in the left hemisphere, twelve genes from the DLPFC and eight genes from the MOFC were differentially expressed in patients with schizophrenia compared to controls. In the right hemisphere there was only one gene differentially expressed in the MOFC. We reproduce the involvement of previously reported genes TARDBP and HNRNPC in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, and report seven novel genes:

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